MP UPDATE FOR BRENTFORD & ISLEWORTH RESIDENTS

FEBRUARY 2022

 

You can find previous reports of my work on my web site;
www.ruthcadbury.co.uk [1] I also report regularly on my Facebook page [2]
and via Twitter [3] and Instagram @RuthCadbury [4]. You can see full
details of my questions and speeches in Parliament, and get Regular updates
about my Parliamentary activities on TheyWorkForYou [5]in Hansard [6]and on
YouTube [7]

 

I AM HAPPY TO MEET CONSTITUENTS EITHER BY PHONE, OR ON-LINE, TO DISCUSS
YOUR CONCERNS. PLEASE EMAIL ME ON [email protected] WITH YOUR
ADDRESS, A QUICK SUMMARY OF THE ISSUE AND RELEVANT REFERENCE NUMBERS.  

SEE MY CORONAVIRUS WEB-PAGE [8] FOR INFORMATION ON LOCAL AND NATIONAL
SERVICES, HELPLINES AND VOLUNTEERING;   AND TO SIGN UP FOR HOUNSLOW
COUNCIL’S DAILY UPDATES.

 

IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT PARTYGATE: The Prime Minister is unfit for public
office and he should resign, as Keir Starmer has said repeatedly. However,
he is being protected by too many in the Conservative Party, and their
chaos and incompetence continues to paralyse the nation. Many of my
constituents, along with millions of people across the country, are paying
the price; squeezed incomes, rocketing heating bills, a £20 per week
Universal Credit cut, and hikes in Council Tax and National Insurance. In
Parliament the Conservatives again and again vote against our proposals to
address the cost of living crisis.

I called Johnson out on one of his (many) lies at Prime Minister’s
Questions. [9] He had denied that he never said that fears over inflation
were ‘unfounded’, so I offered him the opportunity to correct the
record and apologise for misleading the House. He declined.

Meanwhile, Keir Starmer, along with Rachel Reeves and the rest of the
Opposition's Shadow Cabinet have set out what they would do in Government.
The Opposition has proposed saving most households around £200 - by
scrapping VAT from everyone’s energy bills for a year; giving an extra
£400 to families and pensioners who need it most (paid for by a one-off
windfall tax on booming oil and gas profits). And making the long-term
changes needed to keep energy bills low in the future, such as making sure
19 million homes are warm and well-insulated.

You can find Keir’s speech setting out his "Contract with the British
people" here [10].

We were all so shocked at the sudden death of JACK DROMEY; long-time
leading Trade Union campaigner and MP since 2010. On the day before he died
he had been at the despatch box. Jack Dromey played a key role in the
successful Trico Equal Pay strike in Brentford in 1976, when he worked at
Brent law Centre (where he met his wife, Harriet Harman MP). Much later, as
TGWU/Unite deputy General Secretary Jack Dromey was heavily involved in the
campaign for decent pay for the cleaners at Canary Wharf, that led to the
national accredited Living Wage (higher than the official Minimum Wage).

DOVER VISIT: With the first 2022 post-Brexit border controls leading to
queues of lorries in Kent, our Transport Select Committee visit to the Port
of Dover was well timed. As Dominic Raab discovered a bit late in the day,
Dover moves 30% of the UK’s trade with the EU in a continuously moving
operation of vehicles and ferries. However, Brexit naturally leads to more
border controls, 3 more of which are to be implemented this year – each
adding to the paper work and delays. The most significant is the European
Entry and Exit System (EES), where each person crossing into the EU will
need to exit their vehicle to pass through an eGate. The Port of Dover
representatives told us that each 2 minute additional delay for a vehicle
adds 17 miles to the vehicle queue.

After over a year of protest we learn that their Government are set to
repeal new farming laws that would have impoverished millions of Indian
farmers. Following an informative meeting some months ago I, and other MPs,
wrote to the UK Government to put pressure on the Indian Government, so we
may have helped.

 

MY PARLIAMENTARY ACTIVITY IN JANUARY

_You can see full details of my questions and speeches in Parliament, and
get regular updates about my Parliamentary activities __TheyWorkForYou_
[5]_ (votes) __in __Hansard_ [6]_ (speeches)__ and on __YouTube_ [7]_ _

_ _

Several constituents have told me they lost thousands when the FOOTBALL
INDEX collapsed. So at DCMS (Culture Media & Sport) Questions [11] I asked
if the Government felt the Gambling Commission and Financial Conduct
Authority are fit for purpose and for those affected to get justice. The
Minister confirmed there would be no compensation paid but that the
Insolvency Service is investigating – so that’s a “No” then.

At Attorney General’s Questions [12] I asked what the Government is doing
to ensure that women who REPORT RAPE get the dignity, privacy and respect
they deserve. For once I received an honest response, where Alex Chalk
admitted “we need to go further …”

Hounslow Council is delivering over 1300 NEW COUNCIL HOMES. Some of these
are being built in otherwise empty spaces on existing Council estates –
such as these three flats at the base of one of the blocks on the Hogarth
estate in Chiswick.

At Business Questions [13] I challenged Jacob Rees-Mogg to congratulate
Hounslow (working with the Mayor of London) on delivering truly affordable
homes. But instead he suggested that what funding the Government provides
“is taxpayers money” implying that this spending should be limited. Of
course that line ignores the £9bn per year of taxpayers’ money going to
private landlords so that low-income households can afford the rent that is
often three times higher than Council housing.

I’ve seen first-hand the injustices that the Home Office have inflicted
on many, such as the Windrush Generation and those waiting for months and
months for immigration decisions. At Home Office Questions [14] I asked
Victoria Atkins the Minister responsible for AFGHANISTAN RESETTLEMENT what
she is doing to ensure that similar delays and injustice is not repeated
for Afghan Citizens who have served the UK, applying to settle here. She
replied by saying that those on the ARAP or ACRS schemes will be eligible
for indefinite leave to remain. However her response doesn’t help the
many who are in limbo, waiting to know if they will be accepted onto one of
these schemes.

After Michael Gove announced an extension of the support for leaseholders
[15] in blocks with FLAMMABLE CLADDING, we realised this will only benefit
those in buildings 11-18 metres high who had previously been offered only a
loan to cover the recladding costs. The very many blocks with other fire
safety defects are still not helped, nor are those facing the astronomical
rises in premiums for buildings insurance, paid by the freeholder but
passed on to leaseholders. The privatisation of building control, the
deregulation of standards in the 1980s and the decision to ignore
recommendations after the fire at Lakanal House have all contributed to
this deep failure on fire safety. So I asked him what is being done to
tackle this long-running and epidemic cultural attitude towards fire
safety? Answer: Not a lot

I reminded Priti Patel [16] at Home Office Questions that in September 2020
she had said that she would “call the police” if she saw her neighbours
having a party in their garden, and asked her if she was confident that the
Chancellor was aware of her advice. She avoided answering.

TRADE QUESTIONS [17] In December, the Government snuck through a change to
the UK’s arms export rules, meaning less transparency over arms exports
and an increased risk that UK arms are used against civilians such as those
in Yemen. I asked the Trade Minister what the Government is doing to ensure
that UK arms exports are not used to commit breaches of international
humanitarian law.

In response he said “we have one of the best arms export regimes in the
world; it is flexible and changes as situations change” So that’s all
right then ……

I was our front-bench speaker in the debate on UK ISRAEL UK TRADE
NEGOTIATIONS [18] where I acknowledged the historic links between the
Labour Party with Israeli Labour leaders and the mutual benefit of trade
between our countries in health-tech, digital security and data. However, I
also stressed the importance of human rights in all trade deals, including
that goods from illegal settlements should continue to be excluded from the
preferential terms of any future UK – Israel deal.

COMMUNITY UPDATE – JANUARY

SEWAGE: Having campaigned for years on the Mogden Sewage Discharges into
the Thames, it was good to see the the Environmental Audit Select Committee
released its report [19] into the pollution pouring into our rivers from
sewage works and farms. It made a series of recommendations for action to
address the challenge and we await the Government’s response with
interest. Unfortunately the end of discharges going into the Thames from
Modgen Sewage works is a long way off, and building more storm tanks
won’t help.

HOWEVER, ON THE SUBJECT OF SMELL (SORRY – “ODOUR”) … At January’s
meeting of the Mogden Residents Liaison group, Thames Water assured us that
the imminent upgrading works on the site will mean that the pong will be a
thing of the past, when complete in about five years time.

Can residents of Isleworth and Hounslow South wait that long?

SWR TRAINS: For many of us the SWR train service on the Hounslow “loop”
line provides a fast, convenient service to commute to get to work or
college. The temporary timetable changes to deal with Omicron staff
absences were probably necessary, but they were poorly communicated, more
services were taken out than on other SWR lines, and the loss of an early
morning service into Waterloo is devastating for key workers. I have
(again) written to SWR management with my concerns about their apparent
undervaluing of this route.

ARTS ED in Chiswick is one of the UK’s top centres of excellence for
performance arts providing high quality schooling, degrees and holiday
courses in dance, musical theatre and singing.

Many of their students go on to work in the West End and film, and I was
delighted to be able to watch the 3rd year degree production of Lysistrata
Jones, as well as discussing my role and key issues in Parliament with
their Politics A-level students. It’s a private school whose fees are
beyond the reach of many local young people, so it was good to meet the
school’s new headteacher, Matt Bulmer, and discuss how we can work
together to enable talented young people locally to be able to attend.

Best wishes for February – at least the days are getting longer, and the
snowdrops are starting to show !

KEEPING IN TOUCH

TWITTER: @RUTHCADBURY [3] WEB: WWW.RUTHCADBURY.ORG.UK [20] FACEBOOK: “
RUTHCADBURYMP [2]”

CASEWORK: for issues to raise with me as your MP, please contact my office:
[email protected]

TEL: 020 8581 3646 OR WRITE: RUTH CADBURY MP, HOUSE OF COMMONS, SW1A 0AA.

DIARY: I welcome the opportunity to attend community events to hear your
views about issues affecting the area, or to meet different groups in our
community. Please do get in touch with by emailing
[email protected] OR PHONE 020 7219 8590

 

UNSUBSCRIBE [21]

Printed from an email sent by Ruth Cadbury MP 367 Chiswick High Road
London, LON W4 4AG
United Kingdom




Links:
------
[1] [link removed]
[2] [link removed]
[3] [link removed]
[4] [link removed]
[5] [link removed]
[6] [link removed]
[7] [link removed]
[8] [link removed]
[9] [link removed]
[10] [link removed]
[11] [link removed]
[12] [link removed]
[13] [link removed]
[14] [link removed]
[15] [link removed]
[16] [link removed]
[17] [link removed]
[18] [link removed]
[19] [link removed]
[20] [link removed]
[21] [link removed]